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Friday, August 21, 2015

I feel like I have my hand in several different projects this week and while I have two crochet finishes I only have quilty progress to share. I am excited about what I've been working on though. The crochet things were hat orders from my shop. I also started my middle daughter on her first quilt, finally I was able to finish up the Hazel Hedgehog blocks and make some great progress on my V. and Co. Color Dive quilt. First up, the hats...

This Sleepy Owl Hat is one of my favorites in the shop. My Sister-in-law ordered this one and as is her custom only told me it was for a baby girl. I always have fun with her projects and they lead me to do what I'm in the mood for at the moment. My daughter was wearing an owl shirt that day in these colors and I thought it would be so cute to recreate in a hat.

This Crab Hat is for another customer order from my shop. It is for her baby for Halloween. I love seeing this hat in any size. The baby ones are so cute and small and the adult ones make me laugh every time.

Now on to the quilty projects.

I finally finished these Hazel Hedgehog blocks. I love her patterns but they include so many little pieces. The blocks always take me longer than I expect them to. I'm excited to have these done also because they were my ALYoF goal for August. I still have a bit to see if I have time to make them into a top but the goal was just the blocks finished.

So this lovely bunch of awesome is my collection of fabric by V. and Co. for Moda. When Vanessa came out with her Simply Colorful lines the idea struck me to do a Color Dive with her fabrics. I was so excited when I was able to get Simply Colorful II early and got started this week.

I am making the king size version. I know I have enough prints to make it happen and I just adore large quilts. I drew out the color pattern and decided how many I needed of each color. There are 574 total squares.

I was also able to make the HSTs for the color dive and started trimming them. I'll be at this for a while but cannot wait to pick the layout! I know I keep saying it but this is going to be EPIC!

Also this week my middle daughter (age 6) started her first quilt. She's doing simple patchwork with a Kate Spain Canyon layer cake. I'm so impressed with her skill and can't wait to see this one come together.

That's us for the week. I hope to get the hedgehog and color dive quilts larger and maybe even finish the tops before my next Friday post.The kids go back to school on Monday leaving me home with the two year-old. We'll see how much sewing she lets me do without her siblings to play with her. Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday and TGIFF.

Friday, August 14, 2015

I can't believe how fast Spencer was able to finish his quilt! He started last week and now it is done just a day before his tenth birthday. I also finished my project for my Paris swap which is on my Q3FAL list. We'll start with the swap...

This finish marks off #3 on my Q3FAL list. I had NO idea what to make for my partner for this swap. She didn't post a mosaic for a while and I found this super cute print and grabbed it hoping that when she came up with something it would work. I had a few backups just in case. It's not a perfect match to what she posted but I think it captures the vibe, I hope. I don't know that I've ever been this nervous for a swap before.

I'm really happy with how the 241 Tote came out and the fabric pairings. My kids helped me pick this out. I especially love the Swiss dots in the lining. I really hope she likes it.

Now this I know I love. He started this quilt last Thursday and is already finished. I did the quilting and the binding but he pieced the front and the back himself.

Spencer also picked out the layout. It's got pretty great balance while keeping the prints he liked spread out.

Like Miya, Spencer ran his photo shoot even deciding to take pictures in the front instead of in the back with the grass. I think it works well with the prints and style of this quilt. I love seeing the creative side of my kids!

Here he is pointing to his favorite print and colorway. This is Doe by Carolyn Friendlander. We like the architecture vibe of this print.

Finally the tag. You can also see the quilting and the binding here. Spencer chose both. He wanted straight lines to continue with the feel of the quilt and we decided about 1 1/4" apart was good spacing. The binding he calls it the "trees print." I can totally see it.

Well, that's it from us this week. I love that I've started to share this blog with my awesome kids' creations. We'll see what we come up with next week! Until then, I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

I have a knit finish to share today and a few works in progress. I got a Fitbit this week and have been loving the exercise but I've noticed it has been taking time away from my sewing. Not necessarily a bad thing, I was just saying I need more balance. I'm making slow and steady progress and thought it would be fun to share here. Also, my eldest has started to quilt and finished all seven rows for his quilt. Now just to sew them together! Let's start with the finish as it is on my Q3FAL list.

I finished my Portland hat. The pattern can be found here. This is #17 on my Q3FAL list. I still think the blue is a little too bright but I like it anyway. It's a fun hat to show off my love for the PNW. It's a bit small but I haven't blocked it yet and that should solve all the problems.

I also sewed the body strips and the ears to the spikes. These spike seemed to take forever as there were so many seams all to be pressed open. Now to sew them to the faces and make the side pieces. I hope to be done with this later in the month as it is my ALYoF goal for August.

This handsome kid started quilting this week. He's doing so well! Spencer is my eldest and nearly ten. We took the tricks we learned for teaching Miya to make her quilt and it's helped so much.

Here he is with his first row. He's using a layer cake of Doe by Carolyn Friedlander and doing simple patchwork. He's done all seven rows and now just has to sew them together. Spencer turns ten on Saturday and thought it would be fun to finish the top by then. We'll see how it goes.

Next up for me - more hedgehogs, helping Spencer, and making this cute owl hat from this yarn pull. You can find the pattern for free at Repeat Crafter Me.

I also finished up my Paris Swap package which I will share on Friday. I had fun making it and hope my partner loves it. Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, August 7, 2015

Miya and I both have something fun to share this week! I finished my Thimble Blossoms mini quilt for the swap I'm in. I also helped Miya finish up her first quilt! It's been a great week. We'll start with mine and then give you a fun picture overload of Miya.

Here's the swap package I mailed out. This is #6 on my Q3FAL list. There is a little pad of paper in the green dots bag. The little zipper pouch has some washi tape, wonder clips, and my favorite chap stick.

I love how this picture shows off the quilting. I went in the ditch around the pieces then filled with pebbles. I adore pebbles! They are so fun and much easier for me that other kinds of free motion quilting.

I also sent a little pouch. I made this with the trimmings of my flying geese for the top. It's small, about five inches square, but great for holding things like wonder clips.

Now on to Miya with her finish! We're so excited that we managed to get this quilt done before her ninth birthday later this month. I love so many things about it! She did all the cutting (except for the big strip down the middle) all the pressing, and all the piecing. I quilted it and bound it.

I even had the perfect tag on hand for this quilt! Miya wrote her name but had me do everything else. The pattern is Daydreams from the book Sunday Morning Quilts. As I was looking up the name of the pattern I noticed we forgot the very outer border. Oops. Oh well, the quilt was already finished at that point and plenty large. You can see the quilting the best in this one. I did a stipple pattern in Miya's choice of variegated thread.

Miya directed the photo shoot for her quilt and I love all the different things she came up with. Here she was showing me how it's plenty big and she has room to grow.

This was her fun way of showing off the backing. It is a print from Color Theory by V. and Co. for Moda that she picked herself. We recently got to spend the afternoon playing with Vanessa and Miya is more in love with her stuff than ever now.

This one just makes me laugh. She went crazy far from me, plopped it on her head, and then had me take a picture. It was supposed the be the amazing floating quilt but you can still see most of her body. :)

We're all pretty excited that this one is finished and ready for use. After she slept with it the first night she said it was the best quilt ever!

Thanks for stopping by! We sure had a fun week. I've started teaching my eldest how to quilt too and it's going well! I also am finishing up a few things that will be fun to share next week. For now I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

I've had a fun and productive week so far leading to a swap finish and a quilt finish which I'll show later in the week. I've already started on the next swap in line - the Paris swap. I'm making a bag for that. I'm also linking up my ALYoF goal for August which I'll get to first.

My ALYoF goal for August is to turn these pieces in to actual Hazel Hedgehog blocks. They've been waiting patiently in this art bin for me while I finish up swaps and a few other commitments first.

Speaking of other commitments - the Paris swap. Once again I have a partner who isn't especially active on Instagram. I'm not sure if this 241 Tote will be her thing or not but I'm loving it already. It is all cut out (not all pieces are shown) and ready to assemble.

That's it for my WiPs this week. I also hope to do more in the Farm Girl Vintage blocks but we'll see how it goes. I'm chomping at the bit to get to my V. and Co. Color Dive quilt but it keeps getting pushed back in favor of deadlines. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.